Thursday, June 27, 2013

LANDMARK CASE: IGP found liable for covering up Kugan's "murder", abuse of power

The mother of Kugan Ananthan, a 22-year-old car theft suspect who was brutally beaten to death by his police interrogators, has won a landmark case against the government, the Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar and two others.

In delivering his judgement, High Court judge VT Singham minced no words, lambasting the IGP and the government for failing to ensure Kugan's safety.

The judge also found Khalid and the late Subang Jaya police chief Zainal Rashid Abu Bakar guilty of trying to cover up the cause of Kugan's death while lauding N Surendran, a human rights lawyer who had fought for a second post-mortem to be carried out.

"The court has found all defendants liable as per our claim. The court found that Kugan died as a result of the assault and battery and detained inflicted while trying to extract a confession," Latheefa Koya, the lawyer for Kugan's family, told reporters outside the courtroom.

"It also found he was detained unlawfully. The first defendant and third defendant (Khalid and Zainal) are found liable for covering up the incident and also found liable for misfeasance in public office (abuse of power). As for the second defendant (V Navindran), the judge actually referred to all the police witnesses and he found them to be unreliable and their stories untenable and they could be liable."

[As to be expected under the BN rogue regime, Khalid Abu Bakar continues to abuse his power as IGP two years following this damning indictment and has, in fact, filed an appeal against the High Court's judgment.]